


Timing is Crewcial

by stevie_RST



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Alternate Universe - Rowing, Alternate Universe - Sports, Gen, Gryffindor versus Slytherin a la the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, M/M, Modern Marauders (Harry Potter), Rowing, Rowing AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-06-26 06:01:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19762072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stevie_RST/pseuds/stevie_RST
Summary: The annual Gryffindor versus Slytherin Boat Race is around the corner and it's up to the Gryffindor crew to redeem themselves after losing the year before and severing the decade long winning streak their university had held.





	Timing is Crewcial

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy my excuse to write about rowing! I really just wanted to write about if the marauders were on a rowing team and this is the result. 
> 
> Thank you to the rs fixit fest mods for creating and running this awesome fest!!
> 
> Thanks to my friend [Ellejebell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellejabell/pseuds/Ellejabell) for beta reading, listening to me ramble, and encouraging me to write this!! You're amazing! Everyone make sure to read all of her fics!! 
> 
> Also, thank you to my friend Jahna who also beta read for me a bit! You're also amazing!
> 
> (EDIT: 8/18/19 - I fixed a few typos and spelling errors I found on a reread)

The lake was calm; it looked as if it were made of glass as the early morning sun glittered across its mirrored surface. The still water and the rising sun could make anyone feel a sense of tranquility. Despite the lack of waves in the lake, it was a breezy morning. 

Remus pedalled his bicycle the last few meters along the road, swinging a leg over and hoping off as he slowed to a stop at the rusting bicycle rack. He locked up his bicycle and walked down the path that led to the boathouse as he breathed in the chilly morning air. 

Despite the fact that it was around 6:30 and Remus was awake and alert he was by no means a morning person. While years of rowing and early morning practices got him used to waking with the rising sun, he still cherished the few days a week he could sleep in. It took at least three cups of tea for him to be caffeinated enough to make it through practice. 

Remus was pulled from his thoughts when he felt an arm wrap around his shoulders. He jumped until he realized it was just James. 

“Hello James, how was your run?” Remus mumbled. 

“Hey Moony! It was great, you know I love a good morning run! So what’s got you so distracted?”

“Nothing, just still half-asleep, not all of us wake up ready to go at four in the morning,” Remus said with a smirk as he elbowed James in the side. 

“Oi, watch those pointy elbows, mate, almost as bad as an oar handle to the kidneys,” James exclaimed as they continued walking. 

“I wouldn’t know that feeling, one of the few perks of being bow. No one sitting behind me,” laughed Remus. 

“Just the object of your affections sitting in front of you. His rippling back muscles, silky hair dripping with sweat” he looked at Remus “I can go on.”

“Are you sure you’re not the one obsessed with Padfoot?” 

“So you finally admit you’re utterly infatuated with Sirius?” 

“I won’t deny it, you’d keep pestering me until I admitted it, but it doesn't change anything.” Remus hunched his shoulders and shrugged, “We’re just friends. Which is enough of a feat considering our falling out after the race last season.” 

“But you worked it all out. And none of us thought Slytherin would respond to Sirius harmless prank by actually messing with our boat. And we couldn’t blame them, ‘cause everyone knows you triple check your foot stretchers. It’s not like they even beat us by a full boat length anyway.” 

“That’s beside the point, I told him again and again it wasn’t worth it to even consider a prank and he just blew up in my face.” Remus sighed, “But after the fact, he apologized, multiple times, and I can read him well enough to know it was sincere under all of his bravado.” 

“That’s one word for it,” James laughed. He smiled at Remus, and added, “Enough of this, it’s a new year, another chance to beat Slytherin. Let’s start by making this a great first practice of the season and go from there.” 

“You really can just switch to your captain voice can’t you?” Remus teased. The two of them made it to open boat house door and walked inside to see Sirius napping on the ground, head pillowed on his bag.

James clapped Remus on the shoulder and said with a smirk “You wake him up Moony, I’ll go find where Pete ran off to.” 

Remus just rolled his eyes at James’ enthusiasm so early in the morning and walked towards Sirius.

\------------------

The annual Gryffindor v. Slytherin Boat Race was a longstanding tradition between the two universities. A tradition with two centuries of history behind it. Just a bit of friendly rivalry, that didn’t always stay friendly. Gryffindor had been on a winning streak for the past ten years. Different crews came and went over the years, but still had the same drive to win. 

Last year however, that drive just wasn’t enough, and they were beat out by Slytherin, thus severing the decade long winning streak. But now as the race was around the corner, it was another year, another race, and another chance to win. It was a hard loss for the crew, carrying so much legacy on the shoulders of five people. 

Everyone, from the crew, the coaches, the student population, and the spectators, wanted a good race.

Among those who attend Gryffindor and Slytherin the Boat Race is the most important regatta of the season, while also being the only race that doesn’t count towards any other race standings. It is a race that continues purely for the sake of tradition. 

Though at the end of the day it was just a race, albeit one steeped in legacy and tradition and it’s hard to be the ones to lose after a winning streak. And it’s even harder to win after losing. 

\------------------

As they stood on the dock, Lily pulled her sunglasses down to reveal her eyes. “Remember, I’m the one steering this thing! If we crash, I take all of you with me. Just so you know. We’ve practiced so hard, and we can win this!” 

In all of Lily’s coxing experience, she had never once crashed a boat, but there was that time that the boat almost flipped when both James and Sirius caught crabs at almost the exact same time. They were bad ones too, Sirius’ oar handle had managed to go all the way over his head and James was pushing so much to counteract his oar being sucked in that he stopped the whole boat. She remembered how after the fact, Remus commented that James and Sirius did almost everything together, so of course they would each catch a crab as well. 

“Now get going, we have to get that boat loaded up soon and still rig once we get down to the river,” Lily commanded, slipping back into her coxswain voice. She then went back into the boathouse to make sure her cox-box and the back up one were fully charged and ready to go. 

Meanwhile, Sirius was losing his patience, just a little bit, they had to de-rig the boat to put it on the trailer to go to the river, but of course he couldn’t find a wrench anywhere. “Do the damn things just grow legs and walk away?” Sirius muttered as he rounded the corner and walked into James. 

James lightly grabbed Sirius’ arm to balance them, “What’s that mate?”

“Wrenches, Jaime.” 

“Oh right, do you have one, I was heading inside to look.” 

Sirius grumbled under his breath, “No James I don’t have a bloody wrench.” As Sirius was turning to make a dramatic exit in his hunt for a wrench, Remus tapped him lightly on the shoulder. 

“Here, I have wrench you can use.” Remus said, his hand outstretched a worn wrench with red tape on it held in his fingers. 

“Moony, you’re a bloody miracle is what you are!” Sirius exclaimed with the excitement of a person whose mood was instantly changed from sour to joyous. He hugged Remus, clapping him on the back, then quickly spun back around to finally get his rigger off the boat. 

“Oh, well I have a couple of my own, see I put a piece of red duct-tape on it so I know it’s mine. You can borrow it Sirius, just make sure it makes its way back to me and doesn’t magically walk away like the others,” Remus smirked. 

Peter ran over to James from where he was taking the last seat out of the boat. “Remus never lets anyone use his wrenches.” 

James just looked at him blankly. “Is it really worth noting? He probably figured why not since we can’t seem to find any others.” 

“Sure, but who would realistically trust Sirius not to lose, er, misplace something,” Peter added begrudgingly. Sirius did usually bring back whatever he borrowed, but rarely in a timely fashion. 

“You make a good point. So does this mean Remus loaning a wrench to Sirius is actually a courting ritual or something.” 

“I’m sure it is, at least inadvertently. But my bet is that they somehow manage to pull their heads out of their arses and admit they have practically been dating without actually dating by the time the race is over.” 

“You keep saying that Pete, and as much as I agree with you, because Wolfstar is endgame, despite their disastrous friendship last year, I still think they’re too bloody dense to get it sorted by the end of the day.” 

\------------------

Meanwhile, Sirius detached his rigger from the boat and, James’ as well since he was too involved in a conversation with Peter. After securing all four boat riggers on the trailer, Sirius returned to the boat house to gather the oars. As he was staring at their Gryffindor oars, the blades maroon with two golden stripes, Sirius still wondered if he made the right choice, coming to Gryffindor University instead of keeping with his family's status quo and attending Slytherin. 

It was a bit of a “fuck you” to his parents, a way for him to reclaim rowing as something he enjoyed and was good at instead of something he was expected to do for the sake of tradition. And did he purposely apply to the rival university of Slytherin, why yes he did. Sirius became friends with James their first year of secondary school, and from then on they both knew they’d try to attend the same university to continue rowing together. 

Every step of the way it felt like the right choice, even if it meant putting up with his parents continuing to hate him and his brother just not understanding why it meant so much to him. But Sirius had James as his best friend, and then met Peter and Remus and Lily and he got to row with them and things had just clicked into place. Not to mention that he probably developed a crush on Remus the moment he saw him ride his bicycle to practice, his golden curls flopping in his face as he locked his bike to the rack. If only he never caused those pranks that strained their friendship for a bit, it had been awful having Remus angry with him, but Sirius apologized and Remus accepted. And Sirius was back to not feeling guilty about his crush on his friend and teammate. 

As Sirius was fantasizing about Remus’ hair and how it looked even more golden in the sunlight, he finally moved to grab the oars, but he nearly jumped out of his skin when Remus waved his hand in front of his face at the same time. 

Sirius whirled around, nearly toppling into the oars, a sheepish look on his face, “Hey Moony, you snuck up on me there,” Sirius laughed nervously. 

“Sirius, I said your name about three times, I thought you must have heard me walk in,” Remus teased, but there was a concerned look in his eyes. 

“It’s fine, I was just zoning out, you know big race and all, uh, just nerves.” 

“Well, I came in to help you with the oars, but uh, I also wanted to give you these,” Remus handed Sirius a pair of socks with a constellation pattern on them. “We all know how much you love your crazy patterned socks, and I figured the most important race of the season was an occasion that warranted a new pair,” Remsu explained, but then backtracked into saying “you don’t need to wear them if you don’t want though, I just saw them in the shop the other day and they reminded me of you.” 

Sirius cut Remus off before he could continue to ramble, which he only did when he was nervous, or trying to hide his emotions. “Thank you Moony! Really. I’m going to wear these today, hopefully they’re lucky.” 

\------------------

When they got down to venue on the river, they climbed out of the van and waited for their coach’s directions before unloading their boat from the trailer. 

Once their pre-race meeting was over and they were given some pointers for the race to come, Lily took over directing them in getting the boat off of the trailer and into the waiting slings. 

Since Remus and James are the tallest (relatively speaking, they are all rowers), Peter and Sirius hopped up on the trailer to guide the boat off of the support bars. They unfastened the straps that secured the hull to the bars supporting it, then got into position with hands on the boat, waiting for Lily’s orders. 

James and Remus stretched their arms up, ready to take the boat’s weight once it was in reach. 

“Ready boys?” Lily called, making sure they were all paying attention. She acknowledged their nods and grunts of affirmation. “Alright, hands on! Sirius, Peter lift up and slowly slide the boat off the bars. James, Remus, hands on the boat when it gets to you.” 

“Yup,” James and Remus replied. They had all taken a boat off of a trailer countless times, but it was always worth it to clearly state what needed to be done step-by-step to avoid any catastrophe. 

Sirius and Peter tilted the boat down and Remus and James were grabbing it by the sides, one arm reaching under to hold the far side. 

“You two can hop off the trailer now and we’ll slide it out.” They did what Lily told them to do. All four had hands on the boat and Lily called out the commands. Once it was slid out they held it overhead to walk it a few steps away from the trailer. Lily then called “In two, split to shoulders ...one, two, ready down.” 

At the stern, closest to Lily, James went to one side and the others followed alternating sides. 

“Walk it down, towards me and then we’ll roll it into the slings on the other side of the tent. Sirius, hands on the boat, don’t just rest it on your shoulder, how many times do I have to tell you.” Sirius adjusted and supported the boat with hands and shoulder. 

Once they walked to the slings, Lily moved one of them closer, whoever put them out, put them a distance apart more suited for an eight than a four. 

“Okay, way enough, up over head, ready… up, okay now roll it in.” Lily stood near the stern as the boys deposited the boat into the slings. “Alright, good job boys, now you just have to rig the boat.” 

“At least now we know Moony carries wrenches with him, and he’s willing to share,” Sirius stated as they all got to work on rigging the boat. Peter got the seats to put them back onto their slides, and Remus got the outriggers off of the trailer, handing the strokeside riggers to James. James and Sirius got to work putting on their own riggers, using Remus’ wrenches to tighten the bolts. 

Lily made sure to check that the rudder was moving properly and that the skeg hadn’t somehow been damaged in transport, despite the short distance they had to travel from the boathouse to the river. 

Soon enough, they were getting their freshly rigged boat into the river, walking into the water up to their shins, luckily while wearing wellies. Once in the boat the boys passed their boots off to their coach and strapped into their foot stretchers. Once the boys were in the boat Lily got into the cox’s seat and hooked up the cox box to the in boat speakers and tested the boys could hear her. 

Soon enough, they were being pushed out and angling the boat to row out to the deeper part of the river. They watched as the Slytherin crew launched their boat right after them. Lily had the boys row lightly to get to the stake boat, wanting them to get warmed up, but save their energy for the actual race. 

\------------------

The race official spoke through the megaphone from his position on the chase boat to introduce the race before he announced its official start. 

“Eyes in the boat,” Lily said through the cox box mic as she made sure the mic headband was secure on her head on top of her baseball cap. They were all anxiously awaiting the start of the race. They all had to be ready, it was notorious that rowing races were called on a second's notice. 

Luckily this race was only two boats, them and Slytherin, and it was a side by side so there wasn't any need for the officials to fuss over boat alignment too much. They were starting from a stop, the stern of each boat held by someone on one of two anchored stake boats. It was also a fairly straight race course, meaning Lily didn’t need to worry too much when it came to steering the rudder. 

“I want a high stroke rate and no rushing your slides. Start hard and I’ll see where we have to bring the rate down depending on how we’re doing.” 

“Aye, aye captain,” James and Sirius snarked in unison, James looking straight ahead, which meant he was looking right at Lily, being stroke seat and all. Lily stifled a laugh, trying to act professional, while Sirius outright guffawed and only stopped when Remus nudged him with his oar handle. 

“Don’t be cheeky with me,” she admonished, “I’m not allowed to swear during a race, so don’t test me.” 

James was about to say something when they all heard the official introduce the race. 

“Sit ready. Half slide,” Lily commanded. “And keep this balance, the boat is set and I want to keep it that way.” They all slid up to half slide, elbows at their knees. 

While waiting, Sirius’ eyes wandered despite Lily’s admonishment for them to keep their eyes forward. He caught the glance of the Slytherin coxswain, who just so happened to be his younger brother Regulus. There was quite a distance between them in their boats, but Sirius kept eye contact until Regulus turned his gaze back towards his strokeseat. 

Sirius heard Remus whisper, “Are you alright, mate?” Meaning that Remus must have been privy to Sirius and Regulus’ little glaring contest. 

Sirius was only able to bite out an “I’m fine” when the official was calling the race.

“We are in alignment,” the official said. He then called “Attention crews… Ready… Row!!” 

And then they were off, Lily yelled out the commands for the racing start “Three-Quarter… Half… Half… Three-Quarter… Full!!!” They were moving quickly through the water, the rush of adrenaline at the start making it impossible to do anything but listen to Lily’s commands and row. 

“And give me a high ten and keep those strokes lengthened!!” 

\------------------

The race was a bit of a blur, they were all breathing hard, keeping their timing, and rowing with all the energy they could. Lily kept calling out power tens, so it was a close race all throughout. For a good portion of the race both boats were neck and neck, there was an ebb and flow of each boat trying to out pace the other. 

Lily told them they were halfway through the race, when in actuality they were closer to a third finished, but she knew the boys needed the motivation. Once they actually reached the halfway point, Slytherin was pushing ahead by almost half a boat length, but there was still enough time to overtake them. 

“In two! Power ten!! And then another power ten. Come on, you can do it, make this boat move and pass them,” Lily yelled through her mic, her competitive side always came out in the heat of the moment during a race. She counted out their power tens and when they were halfway through the second set of strokes, they were leading the race, with Slytherin almost a full boat length behind them. 

But their boat-length lead didn’t last very long as the Slytherin crew started to catch up again. Lily made them keep their pace and keep rowing. The finish line was in her sights, as she spotted the bridge that was just beyond the official finish line. 

They were getting closer and closer to the finish line and still leading. They needed to keep that lead if they had any hope of winning. “Power twenty,” Lily commanded, counting out the strokes. All of the boys were breathing hard, Lily could see the strain in James face as they all continued rowing. She encouraged them as much as she could, having them lower the stroke rate and lengthen their strokes for the last time before a couple sets of power tens. 

On their last power ten, they were coming up to the finish line and Slytherin wasn’t far behind. Either boat could still win it. Lily called for a hard power twenty, yelling for them to put any energy they had left into it. She physically felt the boat jolt as their stroke rate climbed. 

“Row through the finish,” Lily commanded, “do not let up, keep rowing, we’re almost there!!” 

And row through the finish they did. First. Lily didn’t tell them that they had passed the finish line or that they had won (still unofficial until the race was called), until well after they passed the finish line and had rowed under the bridge. 

Lily screamed through the cox box that they’d done it, they won, and once the boys realized they had won, they collectively slumped forward onto their oars in both relief and exhaustion. James splashed the water and she could hear Peter and Sirius whooping loudly. 

\------------------

Sirius laid back, seat pushed back on his slide. He looked up as Remus leaned forward, knees bent, with his arms draped over his oar handle. They were in each others’ space as much as was possible in a crew boat. They were both sweaty and out of breath, panting for oxygen, but could only smile at each other. They won. Sirius laughed, a smile stretching across his face as he closed his eyes to bask in the triumph. 

Remus tugged on Sirius’ sweaty, plaited hair and Sirius opened his eyes in response. Before Sirius could question him, Remus leaned closer—while still trying to maintain the boat’s balance—and said, “I’m going to kiss you now.” 

Sirius had barely finished nodding enthusiastically before Remus was kissing him. The angle was awkward. Half upside down with an oar in the way, but it was perfect. A chaste kiss, just lips on lips. Sirius smiled into it, and Remus couldn’t help but smile back. 

As they pulled apart, Sirius’ smile grew even bigger, “We won, we did it,” he muttered. His smile slowly turned into a smirk, “This is the best day of my life. Not only did we win, we redeemmed Gryffindor, and you, Remus Fucking Lupin kissed me!” 

Remus expected that a smile wouldn’t leave his face for the foreseeable future. 

\------------------

They finally rowed to the boat launch point closest to the finish line and managed to listen to Lily’s orders amidst their excitement. Holding oars steady, stuffing wet socks into their spandex shorts, wellies thrown to them to put on before getting out of the boat. There was an overwhelming air of excitement amongst every member of the Gryffindor crew, making them complete the mundane routine in a daze of adrenaline and joy. 

Once parallel to the launch, far enough away for the skeg not to hit the bottom of the river, Lily got out of the boat and then called for bowside to exit the boat while strokeside held it steady. Peter and Remus opened their oar locks and took out their oars, resting them on the riggers before exiting the boat. Once out of the boat Peter and Remus smiled at each other, realizing again that they just won. 

“Good job, mate!” Peter exclaimed excitedly to Remus. 

“You too, Pete! A real team effort,” Remus replied, then lowered his voice a bit, “Can’t believe we bloody did it.” 

During their brief exchange, Lily called for James and Sirius to exit the boat as well. 

“So Lils, are you looking forward to your swim?” Sirius teased, “Jamie here is real excited to throw you in.” 

“My body is ready,” Lily deadpanned and then proceeded to laugh. 

\------------------

Once it comes time for the medal and trophy ceremony, none of them can reign in their excitement. Finally letting loose with their emotions now that they are back on land and don’t have a boat to worry about. 

Lily ran to her boys where they were waiting by the trophy table, in awe that they won, they did it. They brought the boat race title back home. 

“You lads bloody did it!!” she exclaimed as she ran full speed from barely two meters away, her red sun-lit hair just as bright as her excitement. She jumped onto Remus’ back when she neared the four boys in a group hug. Remus managed to take her weight despite the surprise, but still tripped into James who already had Sirius on his back while Peter laughed and couldn’t stop hugging them all. The five of them became a tangle of limbs and laughter. 

“I think you mean we did it Lils,” Remus said as he tried to look her in the eye while she was still clinging to his back. 

“You’re as much a part of this crew as any of us,” Peter added, as sweet and sincere as always. 

“Probably more important than all of us ...combined,” Sirius commented 

“Hey Lils, you mind if we switch? Before they take an ungodly number of photos of us. You know so I can cling to my boyfriend’s sweaty muscled back and James will stop almost dropping me,” Sirius nudged James’ glasses where the arms hooked over his ears. 

“You weigh more than you think Padfoot, ... wait _boyfriend?_?” James questioned as he pushed his glasses up his nose with one hand, the other still gripping Sirius’ knee. James’ facial expression went from shocked, to amused, to happy in a matter of seconds. 

“I mean yeah, we kissed right after we crossed the finish line, just none of you noticed, right Moony?” Sirius questioned as he clambered off of James back and smiled in Remus’ direction. 

“Well I like the sound of that, so yeah boyfriends,” Remus said his smile somehow shy and smug at the same time. 

Sirius and Remus got caught in a staring contest that was more smiling than staring, until Peter nudged Sirius even closer to Remus, who still had Lily on his back, and said, “Well what are you waiting for? Hang off Remus’ back for pictures. I told James that the two of you would be dating by the end of Boat Race season, win or lose.” 

Sirius squacked “Jamie, you didn’t have faith in me? I am appalled.” He even put his hand over his heart to add to his not-quite-faux shocked expression. 

“No, I mean yes, I had faith in you, I just thought it was gonna take a little longer, you can be a bit dense at times mate, and we all know how stubborn Moony is. Just seemed too strong a battle of wills. But now, all bets are off, literally, and I am number one Wolfstar shipper, move over Pete.” James playfully elbowed Peter in the side. 

Remus just turned to Sirius and mouthed “wolfstar” with a confused look on his face. Then he thought on it for a moment and seemed to nod his head in understanding if not approval. He then reached for Sirius’ hand and linked their fingers together. 

Sirius who was facing the direction of the crowd said “Oh, one of the officials in coming over, guess they finally decided they had enough of us just breathing closer and closer to the trophy.” 

Lily’s only response was, “We bloody won that damn trophy, we can breathe on it all we want.” (It was a good thing that Lily saved all her swearing for when they were out of the boat, otherwise they would have been disqualified from so many races). 

\------------------

Once they received their medals and were allowed to touch the trophy, the crew’s joy and excitement ramped up again, now that they weren’t focusing on the drama of two of their teammates romantic relationship. 

They were even presented with bottles of champagne to add that extra bit of bougieness to their celebrating. Though maybe Peter shouldn’t have been allowed to pop the cork on one of the bottles—he nearly launched the cork into James’ face, but luckily it bounced off the rim of James thick black frames. They were all too caught up in a secondary adrenaline high to really pay any attention. 

Once they were wearing their medals and thoroughly covered in champagne, they were all excited for the ridiculous tradition of throwing their cox, in this case Lily, into the water to celebrate the win. It was tradition and a lucky one at that, so they couldn’t pass it by. 

Their medals thumped against their chests as the five of them ran down one of the docks, stopping about a foot away from the end. 

Lily tugged off her wellies, hopping on one foot to do so, nearly causing herself to fall into the water on her own. Once she was barefoot, she pulled her cap which she had been wearing backwards, off her head and stuffed in into a boot. The boys followed her lead, like they were conditioned to do at this point, and took off their own wellies. 

“You ready boys?” Lily asked, one eyebrow raised. 

One of the event photographers made sure they were close enough to capture the scene while being far enough away to avoid any splashes. 

Lily stood near the end of the dock, her toes almost hanging over the edge. James picked her up from behind and she squealed. But instead of tossing her in, he turned her around so she was stood between himself and Remus. 

“You ready Moony?” James asked.

Remus nodded and ducked down to grab Lily by the ankles, while James took her hands. James and Remus moved to the edge of the dock, Lily hanging between them as they securely held onto her limbs. Sirius and Peter loitered closely behind them. 

“On three,” Remus said. “Count one, two, three, then let go.” James nodded excitedly. 

They swung Lily gently back and forth as they counted, making sure to swing her body far enough over the water so she would land safely in the river. 

On three, James and Remus, released her and she hit the water with a splash, when she surfaced, Lily could not stop smiling and giggling and before she knew it, she was joined in the water by four enthusiastic rowers. 

James and Peter jumped right in, making dual splashes on either side of Lily. 

Sirius pecked Remus on the cheek before launching into a cannon ball, while Remus followed with a sleek dive into the water once Sirius was out of the way and treading water. Once he surfaced, Remus looked at his friends’ smiling faces, at his boyfriend swimming towards him and realized that everything felt right. This was how winning was meant to feel, the timing was right this time in more ways than one. And any bitterness about losing the previous year was lost, as he was consumed with utter joy.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!
> 
> Glossary of rowing terms (used in fit):  
> bow - the front of the boat/shell. Bow crosses the finish line first.  
> bowside - the right or starboard side of the boat, but rower’s oar blade is in water on their left  
> catch a crab - not a literal crab. When the oar blade isn’t removed from the water at the right time and gets caught in the water, slowing the boat down  
> chase boat - basically a safety precaution during races or practice. A small boat that will follow rowing shells and help rowers in case a boat flips or something  
> cox/coxswain - considered a member of the crew. The cox does not row, but calls out commands (race strategy) and steers the boat’s rudder  
> cox box - a portable microphone type thing to amplify the cox’s voice  
> Foot stretchers - the attached, adjustable foot plate and shoes for each rower in the boat  
> hull - the body of the boat/shell  
> oar lock - part of the rigger that holds the oar in place  
> Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race - the boat race that I loosely based the race in this fic off of. It's the annual race between the Oxford and Cambridge ridge crews. It started (for men) in 1829 and has been held annually since 1856.  
> rig - to rig a boat is to put the riggers onto it  
> rigger - or outrigger, the metal parts on the side of the boat that hold the oars in place  
> rudder - is attached to the skeg, it is used to steer the boat  
> Set - to set the boat is to balance the boat, so if the boat is set it is balanced  
> Side by side race - a race where all boats involved start at the same time and face against each other  
> skeg - or fin is a piece of metal or plastic that is under the stern of the boat and helps stabilize it in the water  
> slings - what they sound like, they are used to temporarily hold a boat  
> stake boat - small boats or floats that are anchored/stationary and are the starting points for boats in a side by side race  
> stern - the rear section of the boat  
> stroke - a complete cycle of putting the oar into the water and taking it out to move the boat. A stroke is made up of four parts: catch, drive, finish, recovery)  
> stroke seat - the last rower in the boat, the rower closest to the stern, all other rowers in the boat follow the stroke’s well stroke  
> strokeside - the left or port side of the boat, but rower’s oar blade is in water on their right  
> way enough - a common command that means “stop”


End file.
